Thad Matta, Ohio State head coachOn the game “We got started 4-for-16 from floor. I think the defense started generating more opportunities for us and got us a few more easy baskets, which relaxed us a little. We felt like we wanted to move the ball and get San Francisco making decisions defensively. We had that at times, other times they had a 9-2 run on us and we weren’t running a very good offense. In the final minutes we did a better job. As Jamar (Butler) said, we have to embrace our system and get better.”

On Jamar Butler and Mike Conley joining the run the point guard position “Jamar, his first two years here, had close to a three-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio. The thing we felt with Mike Conley is that he was a very good decision maker and that would be an advantageous for us to have two guys out there who can make plays.”

On rebounding “We’re talking about it and working on it everyday. In order for us to have a chance to be a good basketball team that has to be important. With the three guards we have out there we have to get rebounds from the other guys sometimes. We just talk about keeping it alive.”

On his team “As crazy as this sounds, I think we have a long way to go but I think we’re making progress. I’m a little upset about a few segments we had tonight. The big thing is just getting those out of our system. We have to understand the score and the situation at the time. The guys have to understand their roles and what they have to do to help this team. The guys are seeing that we’re not a good enough basketball team that guys can come out and not play hard.”

Mike Conley, Ohio State freshman guardOn his game “It’s more just running the offense. Whatever they give me. I Just take the shots that are open and that I’m comfortable taking.”

On the game Monday “We did a lot of pick and rolls and they were coming off the ball screens and coach told me to beat my man and their man would get caught in the traffic. I had some good back door cuts and we made some open shots and big plays.”

On OSU’s defense Monday “Coach got on us during a time out. We had lost a four-minute war. We needed to get out and play a lot tougher and limit their shots and make some big plays.”

Daequan.Cook, Ohio State freshman guardOn his game “Most of the time I just look for opportunities to score and take advantage of them. Coach tells us not to force them and to take things within the flow of the game.”

On his big dunk “I’m used to dunks like that. In high school it’s all about getting the crowd going and plays like that get them going.”

Jamar Butler, Ohio State junior guardOn Ohio State “We just have to keep working hard in practice and keep plugging away within our system. I believe we try to get better every day and better than the day before in practice every day.”

Jessie Evans, San Francisco head coachOn the game “Was (Greg) Oden out there today? We couldn’t seem to get anything inside. I had hoped we could emulate some of their length. It surprised me we didn’t get anything going. As a result we started missing some our of our perimeter shots. We just didn’t have the patience in the beginning. We expected to come out and play a lot better than we did. We expected to get some things going. Maybe later in the year we would have played better.”

On Ohio State “They’re a tough ball club. They played well out there and I noticed watching them on television that they enjoy their roles and they understand their roles. They’re a good basketball team. I’ve been in the Big Ten before. Coach (Matta) is doing a great job getting those guys ready. It’s not an easy thing to do. And they still have one to add. Maybe Oden will mess up their chemistry (laughing).”